One of the top entrepreneurs in the United States accused the federal government of lying about the number of coronavirus deaths.
After it was announced that health officials have been instructed to mark anyone who dies while infected with the disease as a COVID-19 death regardless of underlying health conditions, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded critically to coronavirus death classification guidelines.
“Classifying all deaths as corona even if corona didn’t cause the death is simply a lie,” Musk tweeted.
This is misleading to the public
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 30, 2020
Musk’s tweet was in reply to a New York Post article that covered Dr. Deborah Birx’s statements on the classification guidelines on Tuesday, which contrast with other nations that are noting preexisiting conditions in patients with the disease.
“There are other countries that if you had a preexisting condition, and let’s say the virus caused you to go to the ICU and then have a heart or kidney problem,” Birx said during the Tuesday briefing at the White House. “Some countries are recording that as a heart issue or a kidney issue and not a COVID-19 death.”
Musk, who has been a vocal skeptic of the official response to the disease since mid-February, said it was “misleading to the public” if all patients infected with the disease are marked as having died from the virus.
On Wednesday, Musk tweeted “FREE AMERICA NOW” hours before his company released better-than-expected earnings amid the coronavirus pandemic. Musk cursed frequently and decried the stay-at-home orders as “fascist” during the quarterly call with shareholders.
